Talk:Furuya Satoru/@comment-171.249.119.4-20160705041405/@comment-28950924-20160823121429
I have been searching for this pitch for a while too and would love to add it to the page but it has been quite elusive I have to say. That is the one irregular time I have seen MIyuki termed it as the "Fork" instead of a Splitter which I think could have been an editing error, or more likely a sort of transition between the names. I also went back and check but in the Japanese Text, that instance was really the only 1 time where the pitch was called a Forkball and that in many cases, the manga translation teams made confusion between the two and translating it as the "Forkball" while it was originally called "Splitter" in the Japanese text. The likely scenario is Miyuki could have called it the Forkball then but has since switched to calling it as a Splitter. The lack of appearance of this Forkball for the remainder of the story beside this one instance realy casts doubt on whether Furuya really has it or not. Now we never heard what Miyuki called the pitch during that night practice if we were to take the assumption that the pitch in question was a Forkball, we need more evidences than that single instance instead of otherwise. Usually with Sawamura's breaking pitches, the grip were shown clearly and the breaking movement of the pitch as well so it's easier to call but we really lack information on this Forkball. However, if you pay attention in the same episode (25) in the actual match against Akikawa, Miyuki called for the pitch, Furuya clearly said it was the "Splitter" while immediatley afterwards a flashback of the practice was shown with Miyuki practicing the breaking pitch with Furuya (again the actual pitch name was missing in this case). However, if Miyuki said it was a Forkball before practice then why does they practice something but then using a totally different thing, the Splitter, in a real match when you consider the first breaking pitch Furuya pitched, following Miyuki's teaching instruction was actually a Splitter instead of a Fork ball, noted by Miyuki himself. Interestingly, if we consider Miyuki's calling sign to be consistent then Furuya really never pitched a Forkball in a game. The exact same sign, 2 fingers: Index and middle, was used in the game with Osaka Kiryuu and Akikawa, the first case Miyuki thought Furuya "would" throw a Forkball like ordered but corrected himself afterwards acknowledging it was more of a Splitter and the in the 2nd case Furuya clearly notes Miyuki ordered a Splitter. If the assumption that Furuya's pitch in question was "still the same one that Miyuki taught him" then it could not have been a Forkball as I explained he never pitched one, at least not that it was ever shown in the story. Again, the pitch he pitched in the game with Osaka Kiryuu was "supposed to be a Forkball that Miyuki taught him" but it turned out to be a Splitter. Had Furuya learned the Forkball since that time and Miyuki has fixed his grip? We don't know since again, the story doesn't show us. I think it can be 50 - 50 in this case because we can prove Furuya both has and do not have the Fork ball. I think ultimately we should follow the official Pitcher Data Sheet which list Furuya's breaking balls to include only the Splitter and the Slider since logically it's meaningless to have a breaking pitch that he never uses in real games. Had Furuya really have a Forkball, Terajima sensei would have included it since he even includes Wakabayashi Gou's Sinker into the list despite the fact that the pitcher used it only 1 time against Miyuki so I doubt Terajima-sensei would miss a pitch like this. That's on the story discussion aspect, now from a baseball player perspective, if one were to have a Forkball, he wouldn't want to learn a Splitter and vice versa. Why? Because both of these pitches are not that good for an underaged pitcher's arm and if he has 1, it's redundant to learn the other pitch because they're essentially very similar pitch in terms of grips, but their usage purpose as pitches that induce swing and miss is the same. It also has a lot to do with compatibility as well, a pitcher may find it more comfortable pitching the Splitter while one with flexible fingers may find success in pitching the Forkball, what I want to get at is not because a pitch is taught to a kid, he would necessary ends up pitching it the way you taught him which I think is the most likely scenario here with Furuya. Miyuki indeed taught him the Forkball grip but Furuya just found it more comfortable pitching the Splitter instead or simply because he can't produce a Forkball (very common baseball scenario actually). Plus, since pitching the Splitter is less taxing on the arm of the pitcher, there is no reason to correct his grip and teach him the Forkball especially when the pitcher is underaged.